Haring has been a winner at every level of baseball

By Fred Kelly fred.kelly@mdn.net

Published 10:00 pm, Friday, April 19, 2013

Brett Haring has been a winner at every level of baseball he’s ever played. And he has the hardware to prove it.

Haring, 38, won championships at the high school, collegiate, and professional levels during an illustrious baseball career which spanned the early 1990s through the early 2000s, and he will be inducted into the Midland County Sports Hall of Fame (MCSHOF) as an individual during a ceremony on May 11 at Dow Diamond.

Interestingly, Haring is already in the MCSHOF as a member of Coleman High School’s 1993 state championship baseball team, so this year’s induction ceremony will be his second go-around.

“It’s really neat. The team (induction in 2004) was awesome, and to have the chance to go in (to the hall) as an individual is special, too,” said Haring, who lives in Midland with his wife Jamye and daughters Logan, 11, and Kiley, 8.

“The memories I have as a teammate and being part of a championship team are what I remember more than anything I did individually,” he added. “But it’s cool to be remembered for what you did individually, too.”

As a senior at Coleman, Haring led the Comets to the first baseball state championship in school history in 1993. He was the starting centerfielder and leadoff hitter, while also pitching in relief occasionally. He was named to the Detroit Free Press Dream Team that season after stealing 63 bases, which was then the second-most stolen bases in a season in MHSAA history and still ranks third on the all-time list, and batting over .500.

He also quarterbacked the Comets to a state semifinal in football in 1992 and returned two punts for touchdowns in the regional final that season, and he was also the point guard on a Coleman basketball team which captured a regional championship.

“Brett was an outstanding competitor. He hated to lose, and he was a very skilled athlete,” said Joe Albaugh, who coached Haring at Coleman in baseball for four years and in football for three. “Just his will to win and his competitiveness (are what I loved about him). ... He was a good kid to coach. He played hard and gave you everything he had.”

Following high school, Haring played four years of baseball at Central Michigan University, where he was one of the Chippewas’ top hitters and helped them win back-to-back Mid-American Conference Tournament titles in 1994 and 1995. Also in 1995, he was selected to the all-regional tournament team after hitting .600 (9-for-15) at the LSU regional — joining future big-leaguers Mark Kotsay and José Cruz Jr. as all-region outfielders that year.

After his collegiate career, Haring tried out for the Cincinnati Reds as a pitcher and earned a minor league contract.

“I didn’t get drafted (out of college), so I just went to a tryout (for pitchers) and threw really well,” Haring recalled. “I knew I could throw hard for a lefty. I was at 90 or 91 (on the radar gun) at the tryout, and they gave me a shot.”

Ironically, Haring had pitched only sporadically in high school and for a total of only nine innings in four years at CMU.

“Basically, I had to learn how to pitch at the pro level,” he noted.

Haring adapted well to his new role, spending five minor league seasons with three organizations, including the first four with the Reds. He was named the Reds’ minor league lefthanded pitcher of the year by the Sporting News in 1999, a year in which he went 12-4 on the mound with a 3.42 earned run average. Also that year, he was a teammate of current Detroit Tigers’ reliever Joaquin Benoit in the California Fall League. Haring was the No. 1 starter on that staff, while Benoit was No. 4 in the rotation.

Along the way, Haring played with or against dozens of future big-leaguers.

“I have tons of highlights playing against great players,” he said. “ ... People always ask me who was the best player I played against, and it’s hard to say. Michael Young was the probably the hardest guy for me to get out. And I got to pitch against José Canseco, which was kind of cool.

“ ... (Over the years), I figure I played against close to 100 future big-leaguers, (including) Brandon Inge,” he added.

After spending two seasons in Double A ball at Chattanooga, which is now part of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ organization, Haring retired from playing in 2002 — but not before winning a league championship in the Pioneer League in 1997.

“I actually have a (championship) ring for high school, for college, and for pro ball,” said Haring, who posted the third-best ERA in the Reds’ organization in both 1998 and 1999. “It’s kind of cool to win championships at all three levels.”

After finishing his education at CMU, Haring spent six seasons as an assistant coach at Northwood University under head coach Joe DiBenedetto and helped the Timberwolves reach the GLIAC Tournament championship game for the first and only time in school history in 2009.

“As an assistant coach, he was great because he had had extensive success both pitching and hitting,” DiBenedetto recalled. “Whenever our guys needed extra work, he was there for them. And he spent a lot of time recruiting and loved being on the road. He was a great recruiter. ... He was able to groom (current NU assistant coach) Jeff (Nowaczyk) prior to leaving, and Jeff would go on the road a lot with him.

“He was a big influence both on the (players) and on Jeff,” DiBenedetto added.

Haring left Northwood to return to CMU as an assistant coach in 2010 and is currently the Chippewas’ hitting instructor. Over the past two years, Central’s hitting and fielding numbers have steadily increased under Haring’s tutelage.

“It was a perfect fit for him, going back to his alma mater,” DiBenedetto said. “He had definitely earned the respect of our players and the other coaches in the (GLIAC), and he had definitely earned my respect, too.

“ ... We’re still very close,” he added. “It’s a unique background — his success in high school and playing for Berryhill and playing college ball and pro ball and then coaching at Northwood and at CMU. It shows the talent he has both in coaching and playing.”

While he didn’t get to speak at the induction ceremony for Coleman’s 1993 team, Haring is relishing the opportunity to do so this time around.

“I think it’ll be really cool. ... It’ll give me the opportunity to thank all the people who helped me along the way,” he noted. “I can’t thank (my past coaches) enough. I’ve had some great coaches, and then there’s your parents and family and teammates. The only reason you get to the level you do is because of the people around you.

“ ... You don’t get to where you are if you don’t have that (support).”